Last weekend, we were quite content to watch small towns and villages to our east take the brunt of Irene. Little towns we had driven through for years were suddenly on National News. Never a good thing. While we spent lots of time saying how sorry we felt for them, in truth we were equally glad it wasn’t us. And then it was us.

Pick any five minute period of rain and it would have been among the hardest rainfalls we have ever experienced. The fact that it went on for twelve hours explains the water levels.

Like most upstate New York Towns, Binghamton has struggled with its economy, especially downtown. The big hope was brand new Student Housing next to the Downtown Campus of BU. Lots of kids, lots of money, lots of hope. Washed away with lots of water.

River Read Books opened a year ago and has struggled to hang on until the students arrive. The Regency Hotel has done a wonderful job of morphing itself into a very good downtown restaurant and meeting place. Both gone with the river.

As I write this, my head is below the level of the Chenango River. What keeps me from needing scuba gear, is an earthen Dike built in 1938. As of Thursday morning, it was very questionable whether the dike would be breached. During the last flood, I was a Village trustee and part of my job was to accompany the Core of Engineer Dike expert as he inspected the Dike. I learned a lot from him, of especial interest the fact that once an earth dike starts to go, it goes quickly and that the top several inches of an earthen dike quickly turn into mud and do very little protecting. He noted that while the water was about 18 inches from the top, it really was only about a foot from failing. That was the 2006 flood. The 2011 flood was at least a foot higher. That’s as close to swimming as I want to come for some time.

A lot of things struck me this time. How quick people were to help out, how well they worked together, how many outside fire departments and agencies rushed in to help. Very inspiring.

Then there is the tragic side. People drag their lives out onto the street and stack their memories in piles to be hauled away. Most of us are lucky enough to leave that job to our survivors.

Finally there was the local radio station. On my way to stock up on milk and essentials, I turned the radio on to get the latest emergency update.

What I got was hate radio. Michael Savage was savaging someone, probably the President or the Democrats, but I didn’t leave it on long enough to get the full picture. It just struck me that at a time when lives were being challenged and changed, when real people faced real problems, here was an idiot practicing, “Keep em scared and keep em angry” at its best.

Binghamton deserved better. Then again America deserves better.